The budgie situation

[gibsongrrrl]

Ok, so I had to run in to petsmart after work to pick up something for the dogs and went to grab some avi cakes and kept hearing commotion and shrieking going on from the budgie area so I went to look. I really try to never do this, but they weren't happy sounds, sigh. Anyway there were a bunch of young green budgies in one of the "cubes" and one was getting chased relentlessly by another. Poor thing was flying and flying and when it did land, that same bird would go after it again and bite at it and make it take off. So as I was watching this for a fee minutes hoping it would stop I noticed that the one being chased was easy to pick out because it was much smaller than the rest. Much smaller. Well the poor thing was panting by now so I went and got an employee and showed her what was happening. She watched for a few minutes and then she went and got the manager. Well he was like "oh they wake up and play at this time" and I'm thinking "ok, I'm going to kill him if he starts to go there with me", but he watched for a few minutes and said he would go see if there was a cage set up in the back. So he left and this kept going on. We are talking like 15 minutes since I noticed it initially now and I'm starting g to get stressed. I don't know why the older woman working did t just put him in a box to stop it because she actually used to work with the birds. Or so she said when I had to speak with them about a gcc they had with totally inappropriate perches and fell 4 feet down because he was clipped. So back to the story.. About 2 minutes before he comes back the one chasing the tiny one f ally wears herself out and goes down to eat at the bottom. The baby flies up to a toy and is totally exhausted. Manager says he set up a cage in the back and will keep an eye on the bird in case it starts up again and will separate him. He leaves and I decide to stay for a minute to make sure the tiny one is ok and I turn around to see another bird sitting up high on the toy with the tiny one and the poor little thing is begging for food! The other one looked totally confused but was not trying to attack so the tiny one just kept trying harder. Now my heart starts racing becUse I'm wondering if maybe it isn't weaned. It's much smaller and thinner and isnt eating with the rest. Long story short I brought it home. I just couldn't take the chance of leaving it there to get hurt or starve and they were closing In an hour. Now full disclaimer, I don't know a thing about budgies so maybe I interpreted the begging thing wrong, but that's what it looked like. Also maybe I am wrong in thinking it is really young just because it was so much smaller and thinner than the rest, who were all the same size. So can anyone help me out here? Does this bird look young enough to not be weaned? It has pin feathers but that's what I don't get. The others were looking like half striped typical young budges but I don't think this one is old enough to be going through a first molt which also made me suspicious it was very young. Maybe it just got added to the order to fill the number Also I do t have hand feeding formula. Can I make something temporary for tonight? Calling the vet in the morning, but I need ideas for tonight. Recipes? Anything. Do have a syringe. Poor thing has not moved or made a noise. I left the room it's in to see if it would try to eat and am about to go back and check. Ok here are the photos

 

[karen256]

He looks fairly young but old enough to be weaned. My guess is somewhere in the 3-6 month range (parent-raised budgies usually wean at 5-6 weeks). It's possible that he was the runt and slower to develop, or was getting chased from the food dishes and had to resort to begging from the other budgies.
Some pinfeathers on his forehead/cheeks are very normal at his age as he's in the process of losing his baby stripes and growing in the adult facial feathers. He looks a little rougher than typical - perhaps from the stress of being picked on - but not abnormal. It's not a full first molt, just him replacing some baby feathers.
I wouldn't give him handfeeding formula unless the vet thinks he should get it... pet store budgies are not normally handfed and trying to feed a scared little budgie will probably do more harm than good. Instead, just give him plenty of familiar food including seed mix and some spray millet (millet is easy to digest and good for weaker birds); you can offer him other foods as well, but I'd let him have all he wants of seeds and millet until he starts to settle in and act less scared. Then you may want to save the spray millet to use as a reward when taming him.

 

[gibsongrrrl]

He looks fairly young but old enough to be weaned. My guess is somewhere in the 3-6 month range (parent-raised budgies usually wean at 5-6 weeks). It's possible that he was the runt and slower to develop, or was getting chased from the food dishes and had to resort to begging from the other budgies.
Some pinfeathers on his forehead/cheeks are very normal at his age as he's in the process of losing his baby stripes and growing in the adult facial feathers. He looks a little rougher than typical - perhaps from the stress of being picked on - but not abnormal. It's not a full first molt, just him replacing some baby feathers.
I wouldn't give him handfeeding formula unless the vet thinks he should get it... pet store budgies are not normally handfed and trying to feed a scared little budgie will probably do more harm than good. Instead, just give him plenty of familiar food including seed mix and some spray millet (millet is easy to digest and good for weaker birds); you can offer him other foods as well, but I'd let him have all he wants of seeds and millet until he starts to settle in and act less scared. Then you may want to save the spray millet to use as a reward when taming him.

Thank you! I really appreciate the info. After looking online for some info I figured he should be weaned for sure, but I really don't know much about budgies so that really helps. I was hoping to not have to hand feed him as I imagine that not going well. Poor thing looks scared, but did let me move a dish of seed closer so it's right up by where he's sitting and I hung millet nearby as well. Have him in a quiet small room with a night light and he's sleeping. I can't believe I did this. I always make myself walk away, but this was just so stressful to see him getting picked on so aggressively like that with nowhere to go. I think I'm still in shock, lol.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Nice of you to take him home. He's very cute. Probably scared with the other parakeet picking on him so much. Now being in a new environment he's just not sure of himself and a bit stressed. Give him time. Not an unweaned baby based on the fact there is no striping on his head. I hope that he does well.

 

[gibsongrrrl]

I'm sure you are right. I am going to just let him settle in and give us both time to recover, lol. This is the last thing I was expecting to happen today. Or ever, actually. Phew! Fortunately, other half isn't upset with me. She hates that I paid for him and is angry that birds are sold in stores and mass produced, but understands that I felt it necessary at the time. I just had this feeling that they either wouldn't move him or if they did, they'd put him back shortly after I left since he is an item to be sold I never make decisions that quickly and my heart was pounding so fast I just went with my gut. He is super super cute though. And so dang tiny! I hope he's ok and healthy. I got some photos of his poop. One from the box he was in for about an hour and then the one he did in the cage about an hour after that. I got a couple more photos also with better lighting before I out him to bed also. If you look closely you can see some tiny black dots on his forehead. They look like pin feathers of dark feathers coming in to me, but the dark ones should be molting out, right? What do you all make of that?

 

[karen256]

The poops look normal - a little watery but that's to be expected when he's getting used to a new home.

The black-tipped pinfeathers are normal for budgies for whatever reason. I can't figure it out. All my other birds have solid white pinfeathers, even my GCC whose head is almost black... but the budgies who are the lightest colored of all have the black tipped ones. Here's a pic of my Sammy when he was around the same age as your little guy - you can see some little black dots on his forehead which are the tips of pinfeathers. So you can see, even pure white feathers will come in as black-tipped pins.

 

[gibsongrrrl]

Oh how interesting!i was so confused by those dots, lol. Sammy is adorable, btw

 

[Kellie728]

He is such a cute little guy. You are so sweet to have taken him home. I don't have any advice, just wanted to let you know how awesome it was that you cared enough to do something for him.

 

[gibsongrrrl]

Thank you @Kellie728

 

[fluffypoptarts]

I agree with @Kellie728. Sometimes you just have to intervene and follow your heart. I'm sure that poor little thing is relieved. Budgies can be especially intolerant of a smaller, slower to develop flock member. I'm glad you got him out of that situation. Those people at the pet store truly don't care.

 

[MyAussieFriends]

Poor little guy! I probably would of done the exact same thing.

 

[missbellatrix11]

Awh! Poor baby! He's very lucky to have found you!

 

[Odin]

You are so great to take him!!! I have to stop looking at the birds at the pet stores, it makes me ill to see them in those darn cubes.... He is lucky to have you!

 

[webchirp]

would have taken him home too! Good job!!

 

[KimKim]

I have no advice but it is so cute!

 

[Birdbabe]

Thank you for helping him!

 

[sunnysmom]

Poor birdie. Thank you for helping him. He's really cute.

 

[mdav279]

What a precious little guy! My first bird was a budgie named Picasso. I loved him to bits.

I have a hard time going in to pet stores for similar reasons. I went to one recently where there was a parrotlet in a small cage who appeared to be a plucker and was acting neurotic. Broke my heart. Thank you for taking this little cutie out of that stressful situation.

 

[Chopper]

Thank you for rescuing him.

 

[Greycloud]

What a cutie! Courtney, did you feel his keel bone to see if he is overly thin? What is his name?